


Claws In Me

by Tokyo_the_Glaive



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Dom/sub Undertones, Dream Sex, Dubious Consent, Exhibitionism, Fuck Or Die, Implied Character Death, M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Rough Sex, Violence, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-04-29 07:44:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tokyo_the_Glaive/pseuds/Tokyo_the_Glaive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin can't stop dreaming about the Mad King of Plegia.  It almost would be normal--if the dreams had more violence and less sex.</p><p>(Now with a second part!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anticipation

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This work is almost entirely non-con (exactly what it says on the tin). If that doesn't float your boat, skedaddle. Not alpha/beta read.

“On your knees, maggot.”

Robin pitched forward without a weight for support, and without the use of his arms, bound as they were behind him, he very nearly failed to catch himself.Instead, he artlessly tumbled to his knees, then tried to scramble to his feet.

“Stay down.”

The commands were terse but soft.Robin glared at the speaker from his position on the ground.He could feel the cold stones of the floor through his pants, and he tried to curse.A gag, a filthy rag shoved so tightly into his mouth his jaw strained, prevented any real sounds.

Gangrel, the Mad King of Plegia, stood over him.One of his pale hands held Robin’s jaw in place.The king ran a long, jagged fingernail down his exposed neck.

“There, is this so hard?”

Robin strained away from hands.One of them promptly closed around his throat, cutting off all air.Instinctively, Robin ceased to pull away.The grip lessened slightly, and his captor’s thumb brushed over his Adam’s apple.Robin’s chest heaved as he tried to get himself under control.

“So pretty,” Gangrel said, “and all mine.”

The grip tightened marginally in preparation for Robin’s withdrawal.The tactician’s eyes narrowed, and he tried to swallow around the gag, but he did not pull back.

Gangrel’s laugh echoed in the tiny room.“Oh, but you are!” he said.The glee in his voice made Robin want to vomit.The king leaned down so that he was mere centimeters from Robin’s face.“All mine,” he repeated.The nail was back, tracing Robin’s face this time.Robin shivered under the touch in spite of himself.“And I am going to have such fun with you.”He patted Robin’s face.“Now, don’t move.”

As Gangrel turned his back, Robin took notice of his surroundings.He had known that he wasn’t headed for a cell, but he hadn’t expected to be taken to what appeared to be the king’s own chambers.There were two ways out: the one he’d been brought through, and another across the room that led elsewhere.There was a balcony, too, but after all of the stairs he had climbed, he figured he was too far above the ground to consider that a possibility.

“Not looking to escape, now are we?” Gangrel mocked.Robin’s attention snapped back to his captor.Gangrel had removed his cape and moved to stand before him again.Once more he took hold of Robin’s jaw.“You should know,” he said, caressing Robin’s cheek, “that if you try to leave, I’ll have your friends in the dungeons executed.”He snapped next to Robin’s ear.“Exeunt!” he shrieked, and laughed.“They’ll drop like flies.Ooh, I’d love to see it.”He smiled down at Robin.“But I’m a patient man, oh yes.I like my presents one at a time.”

He leaned forward and kissed Robin’s forehead like a benediction.Seeing an opening, Robin slammed his head forward as hard as he could.As the king let loose a feral yell, the strategist scrambled for purchase on the smooth floors, but miscalculated and slipped.He landed flat on his back before the enraged king, smashing his hands under him.

Gangrel swooped down upon him like some heinous bat.His nose bled, and he giggled like the madman he was.“Oh, so you do have some fight left!”He straddled Robin’s waist and sat on him. Robin’s chest heaved, exposed as it was with his hands underneath of him. Gangrel pinned his shoulders to the floor, rendering him immobile.

“I like that,” Gangrel said.“I like that a lot.”It was then that Robin noticed the other man’s erection.Robin’s face flushed.

Gangrel made an obscene noise.“Oh, but you hadn’t noticed.”Gangrel ground down against Robin’s hips with his own.Robin’s breath caught in his throat.“Oh, and after everything I’ve done for you, you’d think,” he said, punctuating each word with a torturous slide of his hips against Robin’s, “that you would have seen what you do to me.”

Robin screwed his eyes shut and tilted his head away.This wasn’t happening.This wasn’t _real_ —

Gangrel’s lips were on Robin’s throat.Involuntarily, Robin keened, his face flushing darker.His mouth, forced open by the gag, tried to fall open a little more.

Gangrel laughed.Far from the manic giggles of before, this was quiet.Robin was pinned utterly to the floor, and Gangrel’s lips were on his jugular.He was well and truly beaten.

“That’s right,” Gangrel said.His voice was soft, and the king followed it up by licking a long, slow stripe across Robin’s neck.Robin shuddered again, and his hips jolted up and into Gangrel’s lap without his permission.“Very good, very good.”

Gangrel set up a firm but languid whereby his hips rutted against Robin’s with just enough friction to make Robin see stars.Hard as he now was, he could do nothing to hide himself from the Mad King.One particularly devious move nearly sent Robin over the edge.He arched his body involuntarily, and Gangrel used the opportunity to cover the entirety of the smaller man’s body, nibbling at the shell of Robin’s ear.A full-body shudder took over the tactician, and the movement brought him even closer to the warm body overhead.

“You won’t scream for your friends,” Gangrel said softly.He moved one of his hands to rest on Robin’s neck, the pressure heavy enough to threaten but light enough to breathe easily.The other caressed Robin’s cheek, then his neck, then traced a long, swirling path down to the edge of his tunic.“Though you’re more than free to scream for _me_.”

Those long fingers began to massage and rub, and Robin wanted to melt into the floor to escape the pleasure.His ears rang and his face was hot with pleasure and embarrassment.Gangrel’s fingers teased the length of Robin’s cock through the fabric of his pants.

“What do you say?” Gangrel cooed.He gave a tug, and Robin arched into his hands.“I need a yes or a no, otherwise you go down to the dungeons to rot for all eternity.”The man’s smile was deadly.“Of course, you’d paint a delectable picture there, too, so maybe I’d visit.I can see it how: you pressed up against the bars, leaking for your handsome, strong king,” he said.“Oh, your friends would be watching.They would watch as I took you, as you _screamed_ for me…”

Gangrel squeezed, and Robin let out a small scream, a combination of pain and pleasure overcoming him.“But I need an answer, now,” the king purred.“No one needs to know, no one needs to die… If only you’ll cooperate, of course.”

Robin nodded faster than he knew he could.All at once, the gag had disappeared from his mouth.Gangrel leaned him up and with a knife Robin hadn’t seen cut the cable that had bound his wrists.Hands and mouth free, Gangrel set Robin back down, almost gingerly, almost as if he were some sort of treasured object.

No sooner, though, Gangrel’s lips replaced the filthy rag.Robin’s mouth was full of the Mad King’s probing tongue, and both of those hands freely roamed his body.The tactician groaned and arched his back, pressing his hips, seeking any sort of friction.He could feel Gangrel’s smile pressed into his face as the king realized that he had won.Rather than fight, Robin pulled at Gangrel’s shoulders with one arm and grabbed at his hair with the other, prohibiting the king from pulling away.

“Mm,” Gangrel mouthed against him.“You’ve got fight in you. _Passion_.”He coupled the last word with a deliberately slow stroke to Robin’s cock.The tactician hadn’t even seen his hand go back down there.Robin keened, eager to have the hand within his pants as opposed to without.Gangrel’s eyes darkened at the sound.“Bed.Now.”

Robin didn’t need to be told twice.Gangrel bodily hauled him off of the floor and Robin pulled him close as he tripped toward the enormous bed.Robin’s legs hit the side and he tumbled on top of the sheets.For a moment, Gangrel stood above him, leering at his prize, but Robin soon pulled him down for a searing kiss.

Clothes came off at an erratic rate.Gangrel cut most of Robin’s apart but shed his own languorously, reveling in each article lost.Robin lay on the sheets, briefly considering the knife in Gangrel’s hands, but then the king was back, and there was a mash of tongue and teeth and saliva.Robin found himself unable to fully commit, though: Gangrel had the blade pressed against the side of Robin’s cheek.

“Now, now,” Gangrel said as he pulled away, realizing that Robin had come to a full stop, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Robin didn’t believe him for a single instant, but he knew better than to say so.The king was silent for a long moment, then lifted the knife above his head.Robin shut his eyes as he heart the _whoosh_ as the knife came down—

On the wooden bedside table.It wiggled a little, stuck upright between the grains.Robin could hear his pulse loud and clear.

“There,” Gangrel said.“Better?”

Robin nodded furiously.

Gangrel took that as permission to continue, albeit at a different pace.He nuzzled the underside of Robin’s jaw as he took his hands and pressed them into the mattress on either side of his head.

“Keep them there,” Gangrel whispered into his skin.He held Robin’s arms down for a moment, then withdrew his hands slowly, scraping his nails along the sensitive skin of Robin’s wrists.Robin shuddered but made no move to lift his arms.Satisfied, Gangrel began to move.Robin felt rather than saw the king moving down his torso, breathing across his chest.Gangrel felt his body, traced his ribs and then his hips, but touched with no more than his fingertips.Until, of course—

“Oh,” Gangrel said, and Robin opened his eyes—when had he closed them? he couldn’t remember—to see Gangrel grinning as he held Robin’s hips.“You _are_ enjoying this.”

Robin bit his lips to keep from making noise as Gangrel’s eyes flitted between his own and his cock.

“Such a pretty boy,” Gangrel said.He dragged a single finger along the underside of Robin’s cock, and Robin’s hips nearly lifted off of the mattress.“Don’t bother holding back.I told you, I want to hear you scream for me.”

Gangrel lowered his head, and Robin moaned breathlessly.Gangrel _nuzzled_ Robin’s cock, rubbed it against hiss nose and _breathed_ as if he needed it more than air itself, then—

Robin did scream, much to his embarrassment.Gangrel swallowed him all at once and Robin bucked his hips into it.Gangrel pushed him back down and pulled off with a wet _pop_ and a lascivious grin.

All at once those lips and that tongue were back, and Robin had to grip the sheets to keep from grabbing Gangrel’s head and forcing him to stay down.Gangrel swirled his tongue around the head and took the entire thing in his mouth again, swallowing around it.HIs lips were sinfully smooth, and he sucked as he bobbed his head up and down, taking Robin so far.

“Please,” Robin said, breathing heavily through his mouth.His head fell to one side and his hips stuttered involuntarily.“Please, oh gods, you— _oh_ —”

“Say my name.”

“King Pleg—”

Gangrel’s fingernails dug into Robin’s side, and the pinpricks of pain blended seamlessly with the pleasure that was the Mad King’s lips on his cock.

“ _My name_ ,” Gangrel ordered.

“Gangrel,” Robin choked.“Gangrel, please, _please_ —”

* * *

Robin woke with a start to an empty, dark tent and sticky bedclothes.  His heart hammered in his chest, and it took him a full minute to get his breathing under control.

 _Just a dream_.

Robin closed his eyes and allowed his arms to rest on his knees.Just a dream, just like all of the others he’d had since encountering the Mad King following the border skirmish concerning Lady Maribelle.They were at war with Plegia now—Robin, who didn’t remember a time without war, could only dimly recognize the consequences—and eventually, Robin anticipated they’d have to fight the king himself.

Robin shuddered.To think, he’d have these horrible—Robin wasn’t willing to attach any other label to them—horrible dreams about the man out to kill them.If anyone knew, Robin would be a pariah.

Steeling himself, he stripped his bedclothes and dressed.It was still dark, but the sun would rise soon enough.He’d dispose of the evidence, as he had every other night, and go on about his business.If he fantasized about Gangrel’s hands wrapping around his waist, about kisses both hard and soft and utterly forbidden—well, no one had to know.


	2. After the Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin's expecting the dreams to go away, not get worse.  
> He is, unfortunately, wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um. This just sort of...happened. There's going to be a sequel, too. (What have I done?)

The horrible thing was, the dreams didn’t die with Gangrel, though they did change, for a short while.

The day Gangrel fell, cursing both Robin and Chrom as he lay twitching in the dust, a king brought to ruin by his own ambition and greed, Robin drank a little too much in celebration and fell into what promised to be a deep, uninterrupted sleep.

Gangrel was waiting for him on the Plegian plains.

Bloodstains mottled his clothes, and dirt clung under his fingernails.They stood across from each other on the battlefield, surrounded by mounds of the dead.Gangrel ran at him, furious and shrieking, waving his wickedly curved sword wildly.Robin did his best to flee but succeeded only in stumbling a short distance, after which he fell on his back.

Gangrel crouched over him, the blade of his sword at Robin’s throat.Robin could feel the king’s weight on him, powerful muscles holding him down from all sides.

“Not so fast now,” the king snarled.He drew the blade up, and Robin shut his eyes, only to hear it come down just next to his ear.

“Next time I won’t miss,” Gangrel said.Robin forced himself to open his eyes.Gangrel was close to him, oh so close, and Robin couldn’t move at all.Every wiggle brought him closer to a truly mad king.

“You’ve destroyed me,” Gangrel said.“You razed my country, killed my soldiers, and stole my crown.”One of his hands came to trace the hollow of Robin’s throat, those wickedly sharp nails dragging along the skin.“It’s only fair I return the favor.”

Gangrel hummed in the back of his throat and grinned.His teeth might have been knives.Robin whimpered but could not speak.

* * *

Robin woke before it could go farther.  His heart beat fast in his chest and he bit into his palm to keep from screaming.  He had a vision of what would have followed—there would have been no tenderness, no kindness, just that cruel blade and the propriety that came from claiming another human being by force.

Robin couldn’t imagine how he’d ever fantasized about so cruel a man.

Still, the dreams festered under Robin’s skin like an improperly treated wound, refusing to heal.He’d forget about it for a time, but an innocuous itch and there it was again.It was worse, too, when the dream-Gangrel, as Robin thought of him, replaced the murderous wretch he’d had a personal hand in killing.Instead of violence, Robin’s dreams returned to the sex-filled haze in which they’d begun.

* * *

“I forgive you,” Gangrel said.  They were in Robin’s chambers in Ylisse.  Robin’s arms were tied tightly above his head, and his chest heaved.  He lay openly naked before the King of Plegia, who in turn was resplendent in regal robes.  One of Gangrel’s fingers traced a slow, straight path from Robin’s sternum to his navel as if slicing him open.  Robin shivered and bit down.  Instinctively, he knew he was not meant to speak, not yet.

“I forgive you,” Gangrel repeated.He looked at Robin and the strategist believed it.

“All I ask,” Gangrel said, pulling back, “is just a little something in return.”

Gangrel’s eyes raked across Robin’s body, greedily drinking him in.Robin flushed but said nothing.He hadn’t been commanded to speak.

“What will you give me?” Gangrel asked, sliding a hand up and down Robin’s thigh.Robin bit back a moan and Gangrel’s nails dug into his skin.He repeated the question: “What will you give me?”

“Anything,” Robin choked out.“Anything, _please_ —”

“Really, now,” Gangrel drawled, “would you?‘Anything’?” He drew up the length of Robin’s body, and the strategist’s mouth fell open in anticipation.

A hand curled around Robin’s throat, pressing ever so lightly.Robin tried to take in a deep breath and found he couldn’t quite.

“Would you let me hurt you?” Gangrel asked.“What if I killed you?Your friends?You would give me your lord on a platter?‘ _Anything_ ’, my dear?Don’t disgust me.”He squeezed, and Robin keened.“You only have the power give me one thing, and I want to hear you say it.”

“Myself,” Robin panted when he could.“You can have me, my body, any way you want me.”

Gangrel growled and took hold of Robin’s neck with his mouth, sucking a delicious bruise in a spot that made Robin nearly arch off the bed.

Next to his ear, Gangrel whispered, “I accept.”

* * *

That one had been shortly after arriving at Port Ferox.  They intended to sail come morning, and Robin needed to be at his best.  Still, he awoke with Gangrel’s words in his ear and a cock as hard as steel.  He had to shove one of his gloves in his mouth to keep from crying out as he spilled into his own hand.

Robin hoped beyond hope that the dreams would stop with the advent of a new war.They were up against Walhart, the Conqueror, and they’d be fighting tooth and nail until they gained a foothold on the continent.He couldn’t afford to have these _compromising_ dreams about an old enemy.

Still, they refused to abate.

* * *

Gangrel brought him to one of the balconies of the palace in Ylisstol.  Robin dimly remembered it as the place Chrom and Sumia had greeted the public after their wedding, Sumia resplendent in that perfectly white dress, Chrom smiling and waving beatifically.

Now, Gangrel had Robin stripped and panting on that very balcony, out in the open for all to see.

“Enjoying the view?” Gangrel asked from behind.Robin squeezed the railing and doubled over even further as Gangrel drew a languorous finger up Robin’s exposed cock.He was out in the open, people were _staring_ —

“Second thoughts?” Gangrel asked.“Remember, it’s this or the dungeons, where all your friends could see.At least these are strangers.I am nothing if not merciful.”

“ _Please_ ,” Robin drew out.His legs trembled as he tried to stand upright, and his fingers were so tight against the white railing that the blood had left his knuckles.

“We should give the people a show, shouldn’t we?” Gangrel whispered.“Let them know who you belong to.I’ve seen how they look at you, but you’ll tell them who owns you, won’t you?”

Gangrel’s fingers dug into Robin’s side and he cried out as the king sped up the hand on his cock.

“Yes,” Robin begged, throwing his head down.All at once, the hand on his side left, and his head was forcefully wrenched back.Robin briefly saw white as Gangrel held his hair, forcing him to look out over the balcony.

“Tell them who you belong to,” Gangrel ordered.

“My King,” Robin sobbed.The hand on his cock was so close to letting him come, but he needed a little bit more. He tried to buck into Gangrel’s hand, hoping to find his own release, but—

Gangrel gave a sharp tug on Robin’s hair, and the strategist cried out again.The hand on his cock disappeared, and Robin wailed.

“Gangrel,” he cried, “Gangrel, I’m yours, I belong to Gangrel, _please_ —”

All at once, the hand was back again, but Robin wasn’t taking any chances.He kept up a litany of his lover’s name, saliva dripping from his lips as he spluttered and flushed.His limbs trembled, and he could see the faces of people down below staring at him, some in horror, some in—Robin swallowed to see it— _arousal_ , to see Robin splayed so wantonly before them.

Robin wet his lips and tried to plead more, tried to form words, but he was beyond coherence; he moaned and breathed.He was _so close_ —

And once again, the hand was gone.Robin thrust blindly into air to make sure it wasn’t a trick, a gesture that earned him a swift slap to his ass.

He was pulled back a little from the railing and felt something blunt against the crease of his ass, and then— _oh_ —

Robin _screamed_.

Gangrel slid in without any preamble or reverence.Once fully seated, he set up a bruising pace, one that Robin couldn’t match to save his life.Instead, he spread his legs and took it, his mouth falling open in ecstasy.

“Oh, _Robin_ ,” Gangrel panted into his ear, “are you _enjoying_ this?Being taken in the open, penetrated by your conqueror?”Robin groaned.“Oh, but you are a filthy whore, aren’t you?You’d let anyone fuck you open like this.If I stopped now and left you wanting, you’d beg those peasants down there to finish the job, wouldn’t you?”

“N-no,” Robin choked out.

“No?”

“Only you,” Robin stuttered.His body was _vibrating_.Gangrel took his hand out of Robin’s hair and brought it around to cup his throat.Robin bore it to him willingly.“I belong to you.”

“Mine,” Gangrel growled, punctuating his words with a particularly well-aimed thrust of his hips that had Robin seeing stars.

“Yours,” Robin gasped.“Gangrel, all yours, all yours, always yours— _ah_ —”

* * *

Robin woke to his own hand on his cock as he came, ropes and ropes of cum, all for the Mad King.

This couldn’t stand.Robin dreamt of Gangrel more often than not now.The sex was rough and— Robin swallowed rather than admit to himself what it was.Instead, he forced himself to work twice as hard so he’d be extra tired.Even when his body as well as dragged on the ground for want of sleep, Robin refused until he collapsed.The others were worried about him, but there was nothing to be done about it.

* * *

The night after the final battle with Walhart, a brutal fight that lasted hours and left their army beaten and scarred, Robin crawled into bed and prayed for reprieve.

* * *

“Oh, love, you did so well.”

Gangrel ran those fingers of his up Robin’s spine, tracing each vertebrae as he went.When his fingers came to rest at the base of Robin’s neck, he tilted the strategist’s head so that he could plant a soft, almost chaste kiss on his lips.

“We always reward success,” the king said, wrapping his arms around Robin.The strategist arched against him, eager to feel his lover all around him.For once, Gangrel was fully disrobed.They were equal in their nakedness.

“What would you like?” Gangrel asked.He murmured the words against the skin of Robin’s neck, planting soft, closed-mouth kisses as he did so.

“You,” Robin sighed in response.Gangrel laughed just a little, deep and soft.Everything about him was soft tonight, and Robin felt himself melting in his arms.

Gangrel hummed.“Well, if you won’t be more specific,” he spoke, turning Robin so that they faced one another, “we’ll just have to play it by ear, shall we?”

The king’s hands were around Robin’s waist as he pulled the strategist in for a slow kiss.Robin parted his lips to allow his king to claim him however he thought best, and he groaned to feel Gangrel all around him, _in him_ , but so gently as to be maddening.

“Robin,” Gangrel breathed.

* * *

“—Robin?”

Robin shot up in bed.He saw Chrom standing at the door.In the poor light, the prince’s face was difficult to read.

“Chrom?” Robin asked, his pulse high.Could the prince see his cheeks burning?

“You were groaning.I got worried,” Chrom said.“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Robin stuttered, Was he sufficiently covered?Gods, Chrom couldn’t see his erection, could he?

“Right,” Chrom said finally.“Good night, Robin.”

“Good night, Chrom,” Robin managed.The prince shut the door, and Robin collapsed back into the pillows.

He was in far, far too deep.

 


	3. Means to an End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am apparently incapable of writing something without it getting sad.

Robin was eager to get off of the ship and onto solid ground when it docked at a port on a sizable island nominally occupied by Plegia.He wasn’t entirely sure why Chrom had been so keen to come all this way; they needed to regroup and meet with the new king of Plegia, to be sure, but that would happen on the mainland.There were reports of pirates, led by the self-dubbed Southron Sea King, but eradicating the pirates would do nothing to put Ylisse in Plegia’s favor, if that was what Chrom was hoping for to begin with.

Still, Chrom had given the orders and the army had sailed.Khan Flavia remained on board as they disembarked as a rear guard.She’d wanted to charge on ahead and take the pirates herself, but Chrom had insisted she stay behind to protect the injured and sea-sick.Privately, Chrom and Robin had both conferred and had decided that if she went into battle now, it would be to find death and Basilio.

“Frederick, there, up ahead!” Chrom called, snapping Robin out of his reveries.They’d been marching for a very short time, all told.Then again, it wasn’t a big island.“Are those the dread pirates we’ve heard so much about?”

It wasn’t hard to see where Chrom was pointing.Smoke plumed from up ahead, just beyond a low mountain range, and Robin thought he could see bandits prowling the open fields before them.

“Indeed,” Frederick said, squinting.Robin marveled at his eyesight.“Their leader is a man named Zanth, the so-called Southron Sea King.His crew can stand up to most armies, and as such, he holds sway over the south.Extreme caution should be the order of the day against this one, milord.”

Chrom caught Robin’s eye.Since Chrom had caught him in a rather compromising situation—one Robin blushed to think of—they’d interacted only when necessary.That being said, Robin had drilled Chrom on what their strategy should be should they find their foe in this specific location.

“Right,” Chrom said, nodding briefly.Robin returned the gesture.“Then let’s finish our business and get out of here!”

Robin nodded and paged through his tome, its charred pages blackening his gloves.Frederick sounded the call, and the battle began.

* * *

Robin, Lucina, Chrom, and Lissa led the charge through the middle of the mountain pass.  It was wide, but a massive fortress blocked the path in the middle.  It was as they approached that fortress that Chrom cried out.

“Lissa, Lucina, get back,” he said, throwing out a hand, never mind the oncoming enemies.Robin threw fire at an unsuspecting brigand.

“What’s wrong?” Robin asked, catching Lucina’s gaze even as he spoke to Chrom.The princess shook her head and glanced around, unsure what her father was on about.Chrom couldn’t possibly think about storming the fortress with only two people.

A crack of lightning answered the question, and a figure stepped forward.Robin’s gut hit his feet.Behind him, Lucina pulled Lissa back.

“Gangrel?” Chrom called.

Indeed, it was, or it might have been.Robin frowned.He distinctly remembered killing Gangrel.He’d dreamt about it for weeks—before the other dreams, _damn them_ , started up.This man, no matter how alike in appearance, could not be the Mad King.

“Gangrel is dead,” the man said.Robin raised his eyebrows.Same voice, but without the spirit, the manic quality that Gangrel had always given his odd speeches.“Nothing but maggots here.”

Another bolt of lightning came down, this time aimed straight at Robin.The strategist threw up a fireball to deflect the oncoming bolt and charged forward.Chrom held him back.

“I’m going to talk to him,” Chrom insisted.

“What?No, you aren’t,” Robin said.The prince was already running ahead.“Wait!”

For once, Robin couldn’t seem to catch up to Chrom.Lucina and Lissa were calling for him, but Robin could only see Chrom and the Mad King.It was a scene out of two years ago, only Gangrel hadn’t yet leveled his sword at Chrom.Didn’t he intend to mount a defense?

Gangrel threw down his sword, and Robin doubled his pace.

“Come, boy,” Gangrel taunted Chrom, close enough now to gut him like a pig.“Do an old king one last favor and end this charade now.”

Chrom lowered his sword and Robin nearly lost it.He prepared a fireball and slung it in the Mad King’s direction.

All at once, images—filthy, sordid things, of Robin pressed against walls and balconies, of Gangrels fingers wrapping around him—flooded his mind.Robin’s concentrate was utterly destroyed, and the fireball fizzled out.A ripping pain ran through his head and he tripped over his own two feet.

From a distance, Gangrel watched him with a peculiar expression even as Chrom, unaware of Robin’s predicament, tried one last time to talk to the Mad King.

* * *

The rest of the battle was a blur for Robin.  One moment Gangrel was in front of him, the enemy; the next, Gangrel was before him, an ally, hurling thunderbolts from the tip of that ridiculous sword of his and demanding that Robin stand.  The strategist could not, and he was bodily hauled to his feet by—Frederick?  Oh, Gods, Robin would have been embarrassed if his head didn’t feel like soup.

There were shrieks of wyvern riders and Robin distantly smiled at his own foresight for knowing that the enemy had a few of those.He’d planned so well.His vision swam one last time and he saw black.

* * *

When he woke, it was to bickering.  It couldn’t even be called arguing because all of the participants were whispering, but it was something.  As soon as Robin stirred, it got quiet once more.

“Robin?” That was—

“Tharja?” Robin asked.

There was a low giggle from close to his face.“Oh, he said my name before anything else,” Tharja said.

Robin instinctively backed up and tried to open his eyes.He rubbed them once for good measure, and to make sure that the sight before him was no mere illusion. Interestingly, it wasn’t.

“Chrom,” Robin said, sitting up a little straighter.Chrom nodded once, and Robin’s eyes trailed to the others in the room—Tharja, Frederick, Henry, Libra, and…

“I was really hoping that was just a nightmare,” Robin said, eyeing Gangrel.

“Afraid not,” the ex-king said curtly.“See, he’s fine.”

Frederick grabbed Gangrel by the collar.

“Peace, Frederick,” Chrom ordered.“You will explain, and see to it that this never happens again.”With that Chrom nodded once at Robin and swept out of the tent.Frederick followed and took Henry and Tharja with him.That left Robin with Libra, who dabbed something very cold on one of Robin’s arms, and an increasingly uncomfortable Gangrel.

“You were hexed,” Gangrel said bluntly.“Under my orders, one of my old subordinates cursed you.Your prince wants me to apologize, so there.”

“You cursed me?”

“She did.”

“Semantics,” Robin said.He grit his teeth.“How?”

“It wasn’t hard,” Gangrel said, waving a hand.“She was quite talented.Probably still is, wherever she is.”

“Aversa.”

Gangrel shrugged and said nothing.

“Well, is it gone?” Robin demanded.“The hex?”

Gangrel snapped his fingers.“Poof,” he said.“Your dark mages undid the spell and your cleric’s patching you up now.”Libra gingerly cleared his throat but didn’t correct the assumption.“Had I known that you’d recruited all of the promising Plegian talent, I might have hopped on your bandwagon ages ago.”

Robin bristled and at up straighter.Gangrel took a good two steps back.

“Right,” Gangrel said.“Well, like it or not, I’m part of your merry band of heroes now.If you feel like using me as cannon-fodder, go right ahead.Gods know I deserve it.”

“Damn straightyou do,” Robin snarled.Libra, almost invisible in the room, placed a hand on Robin’s and squeezed.“Forget what your little curse did to me, you killed— You—”

“I make no excuses,” Gangrel said.He gave a mocking bow and swept out of the tent.

Robin laid his head back and groaned.

“Robin,” Libra said, “I’m glad you’re well.”

“Sorry you had to hear all this, Libra,” Robin said.“It’s just— He’s—”

Libra nodded sagely.“I know,” he said, “but we can not turn away the penitent sinner.”

“You really think he’s sorry?”

Libra hesitated.“I believe he regrets some things,” Libra said, wiping his hands of that cold salve, “and it’s driven him this far.It takes a certain kind of pain to transcend death.”

“Transcend death, huh,” Robin echoed.“He’s suicidal.”

“And yet he lives,” Libra said.He smiled grimly.“It takes a certain kind of self-hatred to seek death and still not find it.”

Libra turned to leave, and a thought struck Robin all at once.

“Wait,” he said.Libra paused.“The hex… Did Gangrel give any details about how it worked?”

“No,”Libra said, “but milord Chrom insinuated that it did more than prohibit you from attacking Gangrel.Were there any other side effects that you noticed?”

Robin’s face flushed.He’d wondered how much Chrom had heard—he must have thought Robin sick, a horrible traitor—and now he knew.So much better for the both of them.

“No,” Robin said when he realized the silence had stretched too long.“I didn’t notice anything.”

Libra had the grace not to call him on his lie.

* * *

Robin no longer dreamed of Gangrel.

He dreamed of normal things—losing his tomes in an endless supply camp, battle formations, chess matches, dragons.Or, maybe they weren’t normal, but they were something other than mindless, filthy sex, and Robin was happy.That didn’t stop the joint feelings of lust, resentment, and guilt that cropped up whenever he caught so much as a glimpse of Gangrel, though.

The old king was doing his best to avoid Robin, and it wasn’t at all subtle.Robin had no cause to seek Gangrel out, but whenever the king saw him, he turned on his heel and fled.Robin had seen men less eager to escape their enemies than Gangrel seemed to want to avoid Robin.

It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that Robin decided to corner the Mad King and have a little chat.

* * *

“Really now,” Gangrel said when he was finally pinned down.  Robin had managed to back him into a supply tent when they next made camp.  “If you wanted so badly to talk to me, you might have asked.  Your insolence would have lost you your head, once.”

“You,” Robin seethed, raising a fist.He lowered it after seeing Gangrel stiffen in anticipation for a blow.Robin remembered his conversation with Libra— _a certain kind of self-hatred_ —and lowered his fist.“I didn’t get you here for a lecture,” Robin said.“The hex.”

“Seriously?I thought we fixed that.Poof, gone.”

Robin took in a deep breath.“What else did it do?”

“Forgive my comparative lack of intelligence, but I don’t follow.”

Robin glared at Gangrel, sure he was being mocked.“Your little hex made sure I couldn’t attack you.Was it supposed to have any other effects?”

“Off of the battlefield?” Gangrel asked.“It was meant to distract you from your work.The details are a little foggy.”

Robin flushed.“I guess that’s one way to do things.”

Gangrel cocked his head.“Should I ask?”Robin blushed harder, and Gangrel smirked.“Oh, my, that’s how you knew it was Aversa,” Gangrel tutted.“I didn’t think she’d go so far.Tell me, how did you find her?”

Robin’s embarrassment turned to confusion.“What?”

Gangrel’s smirk didn’t drop, but it lessened a bit.“Don’t play dumb,” he said.He abruptly began walking forward, and Robin fell into step, walking back, until their positions were reversed.Robin cursed himself for getting into this situation.He should have just let it go, let it— “I imagine she made herself so _delectable_ ,” Gangrel said, licking his lips in parody of lasciviousness.

“Um,” Robin said.“It wasn’t—She wasn’t the one—”

“Wasn’t what?” Gangrel asked.The smirk fell from his face at long last, and his eyes widened.“Don’t tell me…”

Robin blushed and looked away.He felt, for one brief moment, that his hex-addled dreams had some to life: Gangrel had him in a supply tent that no one would be checking for hours, his back to a bunch of crates, unable to hide.

Gangrel swore and took several steps back.He had several creative names for Aversa, and Robin might have laughed were he not doing his best to get his blushing under control.He willed his knees to steadiness and propped himself back up.

Gangrel couldn’t meet his eye.

“That’s why I was curious,” Robin said finally.“I didn’t think you’d— Or, if you had—” He swallowed.

“You’ve been having dreams,” Gangrel said curtly, clearly embarrassed, “about me. They were…” Gangrel didn’t finish his sentence, and Robin nodded slowly.Gangrel opened his mouth and closed it again, then said, “I wasn’t aware that she’d taken…liberties…with my instructions.I…”

Robin felt he should say something but wasn’t sure what it should be.“It’s fine,” he blurted finally.“It’s fine, right?Just dreams, nothing you authorized so it doesn’t have to be awkward.” _As if that were the most awkward thing about the situation_ , Robin reminded himself.Questionable dreams aside, the Mad King was a murderer.Robin laughed a little, and Gangrel stared at him as if he were the madman.“Right,” Robin said.“Glad we cleared that up.I’ll just be—going.”

Robin maintained that he did not flee, he merely walked quickly away.

* * *

They began to both avoid each other.  Robin fled as soon as he saw Gangrel, and Gangrel did the same if he caught sight of the strategist first.  Chrom pulled Robin aside to express his approval.

“What he did,” Chrom said, squeezing his hands into fists, “not just to my sister, but to you— That kind of torture, it’s horrible.”He clapped one of Robin’s shoulders.“He may nominally be one of us, but that’s something I will neither forgive nor forget.”

“Chrom—“

“It also means I have to apologize,” Chrom said.“When I heard you, and his name— I doubted you.I’m sincerely sorry.”

Robin ended the conversation as soon as graciousness permitted and hoped that it was never brought up again.

* * *

Unfortunately, some things are inevitable.

* * *

Groans, then, “ _Robin…_ ”

Robin’s face flushed.In the dark—the dead of night, even; Robin had seen no one awake for hours—there was no one to see him, but he glanced around nervously anyway.He swallowed and approached where he heard, _oh no_ , the sound of flesh on flesh.

“ _Robin…”_

Robin’s heart might have stopped.The noises were coming from within Gangrel’s tent.

It had become abundantly clear from the first that Gangrel couldn’t be housed with other soldiers.His death wish was too profound and his ability to enrage others to the point of violence was comparable.As such, Gangrel always had his own tent on the outskirts of camp.

That night, all that meant was that there was no one to stop Gangrel from…whatever he was doing.Swallowing, Robin quietly admitted to himself that there was absolutely no mystery and resolved to put the entire matter out of mind, as if he’d done that so well before.

Except, in his haste to get away and give the Mad King some privacy, Robin stepped on a damn twig.Leave it to Robin’s bad luck to see to it that he stepped on perhaps the only twig in the entirety of the damn campsite that Frederick hadn’t cleared.

The noises from Gangrel’s tent stopped at once.

Robin absolutely did not run.

* * *

Gangrel wouldn’t meet his eyes.

It was nothing new, but Robin had been curious, that was all.That was the only reason why he had, against all sound advice, put himself in the path of the Mad King on a nearly daily basis.Curiosity.

Gangrel would blush, sputter, nearly trip over himself trying to insult Robin.He made a complete ass of himself, and as entertaining as it was to watch, Robin continued to feel a pang of satisfaction.The tables had clearly been turned.It felt better than it should have.

 

That ought to have been it, finally, at last—except.Lust is easy, but the aftermath is generally hard.

Robin discovered this in a rather pleasant way.

 

Again, Robin made his rounds at night.Frederick had taken to assigning him to night patrols because Robin was one of the few who wouldn’t fall asleep—he, Lon’qu, and Frederick were the most reliable on that front.

It was in this way that Robin found himself again before Gangrel’s tent.This time, Robin didn’t just flush with embarrassment.No, he felt his whole _body_ blush to hear the sounds emerging from Gangrel’s tent.

They weren’t loud but they were _evocative_. Robin heard the slick sound of oil, the squelches and pops as it was pushed and pulled.There were breathy groans and moans, and the ever-present underlying slide of fabric and skin.

“ _Robin_ ,” Gangrel rasped.

Robin swallowed and kept moving, eager to continue the rounds.He was half hard just listening, and if he stayed any longer—

“Oh, you’re out there, aren’t you?”

Those words, spoken in that soft, dark tone, sent an involuntary shiver up Robin’s spine.

Gangrel let out a muted, muffled groan.“See what you’ve done to me,” came that voice. “How the mighty fall.”His last words were cut off by a low keen.

Robin’s blood absolutely sang in his veins.He could hear his pulse in his ears and his feet refused to move forwards.

Gangrel moaned his name once more, and Robin made a complete about-face and headed for the tent.

Throwing back the flap revealed all of nothing, at least at first.It was a little darker inside than out, and Robin’s eyes were slow to make the adjustment.Still—

There was Gangrel, naked and painfully hard, fingers wrapped around his own cock and pumping as if it could save his life.

“You’re being awfully loud,” Robin said.He couldn’t quite keep his voice steady.

Gangrel growled and lunged.

There wasn’t much space in the tent, but Robin didn’t so much as flinch, not even as Gangrel’s hands came and wrapped around his waist and his neck to force him into a bruising kiss.While the driving force was _need_ , Gangrel was careful.Robin could have pulled away at any time and met no resistance.

As it was, Robin fisted Gangrel’s hair and pressed forward, allowing the flaps of the tent to fall shut behind him.

Robin’s clothes came off slowly, then all at once when they bothered to stop kissing.Gangrel worked at them like a man starved, so much that Robin nearly laughed.The sound brought Gangrel’s work to a halt just before Robin lost his pants and found the strategist suddenly cold as the king took a step back.

“You think this funny?” Gangrel demanded, his voice a low whisper.“You think this, _this_ …”

Robin shook his head though he was sure the gesture was nearly invisible.He slipped out of his own pants, freeing his cock, and took the few steps to Gangrel’s cot.He sprawled in the middle, and quietly, awkwardly, Gangrel came to straddle him.

“I dreamed about you,” Gangrel whispered into the shell of Robin’s ear.“Ever since you told me, they haven’t stopped.”

“Sounds like you’ve been cursed,” Robin said, reaching up to cradle Gangrel’s cheek.It seemed like the thing to do until Gangrel snatched his wrist and pinned it down by Robin’s cheek.

“You do mock me,” Gangrel spat.“You suffered through the _torment_ of dreaming of having _me_ , but _I_ , when I must dream of _you_ , it’s a joke.”Gangrel tightened his grip on Robin’s wrist.

“That’s not,” Robin started, “how it is.”

“Really,” Gangrel sneered.“Did you have to stroke yourself to get up for me?I wouldn’t put it past you to think this funny.What, so you could take me and brag that you fucked an old king, made him go down on his knees for you?”

“In the dreams, it was the other way around,” Robin admitted, pointless though it was.Gangrel’s hold loosened somewhat, and he sat back.Robin remained where he was.“They were distracting, to be sure,” Robin admitted.“But at some point…” Robin swallowed.“I was horrified with myself, it’s true.You killed so many of our men.”

“But,” Gangrel whispered.There was something in that tone.

Robin wriggled his hips.“Let me up,” he said.Gangrel hesitated, but he lifted himself enough that Robin could slide out from under him.As he stood, Gangrel collapsed on the bed, hiding his face.

“Go on, leave, then,” came the muttered response. Robin poked his side until he received an angry glare. “Haven’t you had your fun yet?”

“Not nearly,” Robin said.“Flip over.”

The eye narrowed, but Gangrel did as told.He’d softened a bit, but Robin still swallowed to look at him. He was big—bigger than Aversa’s spell had given him credit for.Robin licked his lips and knelt at the foot of the cot.

“You don’t— _aah_ ,” Gangrel groaned.

“Quiet,” Robin said.He’d only briefly taken Gangrel’s cock in hand, and he smiled at how _receptive_ the king was. “You don’t want to explain this to the others, and neither do I.”

Gangrel stuffed his fist in his mouth as best as he could and threw his head back as Robin leaned down, rubbing his cheek along the length of the cock.He licked it once from root to tip and Gangrel twitched.Even as he circled the head with his tongue, Robin tasted beads of pre-cum.

With a short breath, Robin opened his mouth and began to take him in earnest.Gangrel’s hips shot up and Robin had to hold him down, but he continued to take more and more until Robin felt him at the back of his throat, lodged rather uncomfortably against his windpipe.Gangrel made aborted jerking motions as he tried to hold himself in place, shaking violently against the cot.

Robin hummed lightly and began to move.

Gangrel bit down on his own hand, but all told he was quiet.Had Robin not been watching, he might have thought that the king wasn’t impressed, but Robin _was_ watching, and what he saw painted an entirely different picture.

Gangrel fisted his covers with one hand, twisting and writhing on them like a man possessed.His entire body jerked with every move Robin made.His head was thrown back, his eyes squeezed shut.Robin hesitated then and Gangrel noticed, tensing almost immediately.

Robin hollowed his cheeks and redoubled his efforts even as one of his hands left Gangrel’s hips to grab the hand that fisted the sheets.Gangrel looked at him then, as he pried it away from the covers and guided it to his own head.The king’s eyes were clouded with lust and his pupils were blown wide.As soon as his fingers felt Robin’s hair, they latched on, gripping hard.He didn’t quite force Robin deeper onto his cock, but the possibility was real, and Robin felt lightheaded with apprehension.

Gangrel fucked his face in earnest, setting the pace a little faster than Robin had started out.He held Robin’s head in place and thrust up into his mouth.Robin felt himself salivating as Gangrel stared at him, open and wanting and _hungry_.

Robin gave in and reached down to stroke himself.As soon as he did so, Gangrel flattened himself against the bed, pulling out of Robin’s mouth.Robin barely had time to ask before he was hauled up onto the cot and flipped so that Gangrel looked down at him.

“No,” Gangrel said, “that’s not your job.”Gangrel took Robin’s cock in hand and positioned his hips overtop.

“Wait,” Robin said, “that’s just going to hurt—”

Gangrel grinned.“Came prepared, love.”

He sank onto Robin with one fluid—and blessedly lube-assisted—movement.

It was Robin’s turn to hold onto the sheets for dear life.He wanted to hold Gangrel’s hips and thirst up and _take_ , but Gangrel’s face was a hard cross of pain and pleasure, and Robin couldn’t be the one to set the pace.He grit his teeth and forced his hips to remain still as Gangrel shuddered, bringing himself up and back down almost painfully slowly until he adjusted to the feel of Robin inside him.

“You…”

Robin looks up at the king.Gangrel’s lips were parted and red.His cheeks were flushed and his hair was a mess, and somehow this felt more intimate than any of the dreams.

Rather than continue speaking, Gangrel swirled his hips, rotating and gyrating on Robin’s cock.Robin gasped and panted and grabbed at anything that wasn’t Gangrel.He couldn’t look away as Gangrel bounced up and down, stroking his own cock back to hardness.

“Come on, then,” Gangrel growled, “fuck me.”

Robin was all to eager to oblige.He grabbed Gangrel’s hips and pushed, and the sound Gangrel made—he keened and gasped and nearly chocked on air.

“Oh, you like that,” Robin mumbled, his eyes drinking in the sight before him.“You like it when I take you, don’t you?You—”

Gangrel shuddered and arched his back, his orgasm hitting him hard.Robin’s hips stuttered, and the sight and smell alone was enough to push him over the edge.

Gingerly, Robin pulled Gangrel down so that they lay next to one another.Gangrel was completely out of breath, his body hot and sweaty.He keened as Robin slipped out in a mess of cum and lube.

“Better?” Robin asked.He meant his words to be teasing, but Gangrel tensed and Robin knew at once that it was the wrong thing to say.

“Entirely,” Gangrel sneered.“A good pity fuck is exactly what I needed, thanks.”

“Wait—”

“Go on, leave then.”

Robin exhaled and decidedly did not move.

“What’s the problem?Want another round?Sorry, I don’t have anything more to get out of it, so—”

“I’m sorry,” Robin said.Gangrel fell silent.“I’m not sorry for dreaming about you to begin with because that wasn’t within my control, but I’m sorry that I keep saying the wrong things, and I’m sorry I upset you.”

Gangrel rolled over so that he pressed Robin down.His eyes burned.“Don’t apologize,” Gangrel snarled.“Don’t you _dare_ — I killed your people.You should _despise_ me.You should take me and laugh and leave me to rot.”

“You think you deserve that, don’t you?” Robin asked.Gangrel didn’t answer, but he could no longer meet Robin’s gaze.“Libra was right, you do hate yourself.”Robin rolled Gangrel off of him and sat up.Gangrel watched as he stood and collected his clothes.“I’m sorry,” Robin said again, “I shouldn’t have done this.”Gangrel opened his mouth and Robin held up a hand.“Not because I regret it, because I don’t, but because you will.You did this because you hate yourself, because you think you deserve to be used.I played into that, and I apologize.I hope that, in time, you’ll forgive me.”

Gangrel frowned and stared at his knees.“You don’t need to hurt yourself for atonement,” Robin said, pulling on his clothes.Gangrel refused to look up.Robin had no idea what to say.“I’ll be going now, then.”

“Right,” Gangrel said.

Robin swallowed and left.He wished he knew how to fix the man in the tent behind him, but he didn’t.Perhaps no one could.

* * *

If anyone heard what had transpired, no one said so much.  Chrom and Frederick, the most likely candidates given Robin’s luck, acted as they always had, and life went on.

Except, there was Gangrel, lurking in the background like a bad gold piece.He’d stare at Robin until Robin made to meet his gaze, at which point he’d look away.Robin didn’t know what to do, so he gave Gangrel space and tried not to act awkward.The latter proved difficult, but then Robin had never been good at acting “normal”.

Long after leaving Plegia as they made their way toward a confrontation with both Aversa and Grima, Robin predicted, Gangrel sought him out.He stood awkwardly before Robin’s tent, and for several long minutes, Robin didn’t notice him.He was too busy deciding his own fate, as he often was lately.If there was any chance of Grima’s return…

Finally, Gangrel cleared his throat, and Robin looked up, startled and feeling vaguely guilty.

“You’ve been brooding, tactician,” Gangrel said.That was the other thing, he didn’t say Robin’s name.

“Lot to think about,” Robin said.“What can I do for you?”

Gangrel scratched the back of his head.“Thank you,” he said.Robin froze and waited.“You’re surprised,” Gangrel said.“I practiced, if you must know.These sorts of things don’t come easy to someone like me.”He was shifting his weight back and forth and his arms were clasped around his torso as if he feared an attack.“You didn’t tell anyone.”

Robin frowned, his forehead creasing.“Of course not.”

Gangrel sighed.“Right,” he said.“Well, thank you.It’s been…”

When the king said no more, Robin asked, “Gangrel? Is something wrong?”

“Of course something’s wrong,” Gangrel snapped.“I’m supposed to be dead, the world’s falling to pieces, and you’re…” Gangrel sighed and hung his head.“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?”

Robin paled.He shouldn’t have been surprised that Gangrel knew about the decision Robin had to make—Gangrel had become known for slinking outside war councils and generally eavesdropping.Robin didn’t want to answer—if he did, he’d be making a decision, a _binding_ decision…

“Yes,” Robin said finally, “I am.”

Gangrel swallowed.“I wish you wouldn’t.”Robin tilted his head.“Some people deserve death,” he said, looking at his shoes, “but you’re not one of them.”

“Everyone deserves death,” Robin said, standing, “in their own time and their own way.They deserve the choice of life.”Robin smiled tightly.“I have that.”

Gangrel finally looked up.“Do you?” he asked.“With princey out there watching you, and all of your forces looking up at you… Do you really feel you have the choice?”

Robin took in a shaky breath.“Gangrel, why are you here?”

“I don’t know,” the king said, looking away again.“I thought I might convince you to live, let someone else deal with this mess.I thought I might apologize.It seems I’ve attempted both and accomplished neither.”

“Gangrel…”

“Take care,” Gangrel said.“If you die…”He straightened himself a little.“I hope you’re prepared to be dragged back by your toes because I won’t allow it.”

With that, Gangrel was gone.

* * *

Robin made the sacrifice.  He stood on the back of that giant monster and smiled even as Chrom tried to dissuade him, as Lissa had to be restrained by Lucina and Frederick.  There was so much commotion immediately before him that he almost missed Gangrel, so far away.  His sword was down and his shoulders were slumped—he knew what Robin was doing.

Robin smiled a little more and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

The world went on without him.

By the time Robin returned, much had changed.Chrom had caved to pressures to assume the title of Exalt.Lucina and many of the other children had vanished, taking with them few belongings.The army had long since split up.Across two continents, restoration was in full swing.

A new king sat on the Plegian throne.Robin didn’t recognize him when they were introduced.

“Did you drag me back?” Robin asked before he slept, staring into the dark.Anyone would have called him crazy, but just before he fell asleep, he thought he heard that low chuckle and his name whispered in the breeze.

 


End file.
